Jazz Aspen Snowmass

Snowmass, Colorado, September 4-6

Hot Ticket: Coming Soon: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

One of the essential acts at Bonnaroo this year will be Bon Iver, the young supertalent who holed up in a north woods cabin to compose his sad but gorgeous debut album. But one of the charms of a great festival is finding a young star like that before he's a star. Last year at Monolith, on a small indoor stage at Red Rocks, I happened to see Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, a Brooklyn-via-Oregon rocker with some serious poetry going on behind his Malkmus-esque guitar licks. He hasn't appeared on America's radar, but he will. Until then, try to catch him at some dark, uncrowded club.

WILL PALMER

It's a jazz fest in name only; you can expect indie rock, hip-hop, funk, and more at this laid-back Labor Day festival. The 29 P.M. schedule means a more sedate crowd of 25,000 and mornings free for tromping through alpine meadows.Don't Miss Black Eyed Peas, the Doobie Brothers, and Michael Franti & Spearhead, whose reggae-and-rap-loving frontman does more than anyone to keep the peace-and-love thing alive. Three days, $145; jazzaspen.org.Intermission Leap off one of Aspen's double-blacks and soar past fourteeners with Aspen Paragliding ($225; aspenexpeditions.com).Crash With no camping nearby, check in to the rustic Wildwood Lodge, in the heart of Snowmass ($109; wildwoodlodge.com).Also This Weekend Chicago Jazz Festival; Bumbershoot, Seattle.